Subaru Mimasaka
Subaru Mimasaka (美作 昴 Mimasaka Subaru) is a 92nd Generation student of Tōtsuki Culinary Academy. Appearance Subaru, as noted by numerous characters, is an extremely tall, well built man. His face is noticeably much more rougher, having thick lips and fierce eyes. HIs hair is shaved on the sides and has deeper shaved hair that form two lightning bold patterns on each side of his head. His remaining hair is braided and tied back into a multiple braid ponytail that reaches just above his shoulder blades. He also has numerous piercings on his ears. His standard outfit is a large athletic jacket with chevron designs on a strip, lining his sleeves. His name embroidered on the inside of the jacket and has been implied to be his own work. His cooking attire is a dark chefs uniform. Personality Subaru initially comes off as an intimidating, punk-ish man due in part from his physical appearance. However, Subaru appears to be honorable and friendly, showing no animosity to Sōma Yukihira despite his infamy in the academy. Subaru's most notable quality is his attention to detail. He states he lives by the phrase "Right down to a gnat's eyebrow" which means that he pays attention to the most minute of details. While this quality appears to be a great code to live by, Subaru takes this meaning to the extreme as he has shown extensive, and creepily accurate personal knowledge of anyone who interests him including Sōma and his opponent for the main tournament first round, Takumi Aldini. Things ranging from their habits at home to their physical measurements and even their most commonly worn underwear patterns are not foreign to Subaru. Behind the mask of honor however, Subaru is actually sadistic and cruel. According to Etsuya Eizan, as a cook, Subaru is "garbage," lacking any sort of respect towards ingredients and tools for kitchen. Etsuya even adds that no kitchen would hire him. Despite this, prior to his introduction in the Autumn Election, Subaru held a 99 Shokugeki win-streak despite being only a first year. Subaru's main method to get these showdowns going is to collect as much data on his target and use whatever he can to provoke them into accepting his duel. By angering them, Subaru says that they become even more predictable. Because of his cooking style, his main goal is to crush their spirits by mimicking their intended dishes and then improve it. Not only does this lower their spirits, but it also makes their dishes even better, resulting in his flawless 99 match streak. To further crush the spirits of his opponents, all of his winnings have been his opponent's personal tools, especially those that hold sentimental value towards the original owner and attacking anything that has meaning to his opponents. History As a young boy, Subaru was grew in Restaurant Mimasaka. Despite his young age, he was able to completely replicate his father's signature cakes just by looking at the recipes or basing it off of sight. Subaru did so in the hopes of getting some praise and recognition by his father. One particular day, a group of Restaurant Mimasaka's VIP clientele came to the restaurant for a new dish fair. During this fair, Subaru's own rendition of his father's signature cake was considered better. Out of shame and outrage, Subaru's father sent him to Tōtsuki. Subaru took this event very hard, but something in his mind changed. He began his infamous 98 Shokugeki win streak, defeating countless opponents by improving their dishes by one step, just like how he did with his father's cake. Eventually his skill and record caught the attention of Etsuya Eizan, who recruited him into his faction, allowing him to go as wild as he wanted in his duels. It is unknown if he was present at the Spring Orientation Ceremony, but he is well aware of Sōma's entrance speech. He was also among the 628 students to have survived the Tōtsuki Friendship and Rapport Training Camp and was one of 60 chosen participants to participate the 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election. Despite his impressive Shokugeki record, Subaru gained more infamy through ridiculous rumors about him such as his affiliation with a yakuza group and even that he enjoys bear wrestling. However, none have these were proven true. Plot Tōtsuki Autumn Election Main Article: Tōtsuki Autumn Election Arc Tōtsuki Autumn Election:Preliminary Round After the spectacular battle between Sōma Yukihira and Akira Hayama, it had seemed that the Preliminary rounds had concluded its judging. The only matter left to attend to was to decide whether Shun Ibusaki or Zenji Marui's dish was better to break the tie for fourth place. However, Subaru had yet to present his dish and intentionally bumped into Sōma on his way to the judge's table. With his unknown curry dish, Subaru earned a 91, qualifying him for the Main Tournament, eliminating Shun and Zenji's potential to make it into the Main Tournament. Tōtsuki Autumn Election: Main Tournament On the second day of the Main Tournament, Subaru met Sōma outside the stadium. Sōma gave him a hostile look, but Subaru told him not to worry since he only came to enter the stadium wiih him. As he chained his bike, Subaru introduced himself using his embroidered name inside his track suit as both of them enter the stadium. Prior to entering the stadium, Subaru mumbled about Sōma's profile, including his past achievements from the previous Training Camp as well his unknown habits. Afterwards, he would then stalked Takumi from behind in his preparation room while he mumbled detailed information about him, without the latter taking any notice. As the first match of the day began, Subaru found Sōma and Megumi who had gotten lost on their way to the stands. Subaru invited the two to the waiting area with Takumi to watch the match between Hisako Arato and Akira Hayama. As the match went on, Subaru noted that Hisako would present her dish first, which she did. Despite an impressive performance by Hisako, without having to see Akira present, Subaru declared that Akira will win the match and the outcome of the match was exactly as he said. Subaru and Takumi was cued for their match shortly after. On his way to the arena, Subaru went to Takumi's room and took out his Mezzaluna. Takumi soon found him and told him to put down his knife. Subaru tried to insult Takumi through his Mezzaluna, but Takumi brushed off the comment. Subaru then asked Takumi about his brother, Isami Aldini. Subaru called him a second rate cook standing in the shadow of Takumi then promptly spat a wad of gum onto the Mezzaluna. As Takumi seethed with anger, Subaru told him that he can finally have fun during their match. Quarterfinal Shokugeki Main Article: Aldini Vs. Mimasaka Quarterfinal Shokugeki As the two entered the arena, a shocking announcement was made: the final quarterfinal match will be a Shokugeki. Like his 99 previous Shokugekis, if he won, Subaru will take Takumi's Mezzaluna. Though he tried to throw a few more insults at him, Takumi merely threw a white glove at his foot. Confused, as Takumi told him to pick up the glove, Takumi explained that the glove symbolized a Galateo del Duello, a formal Italian way to declare a duel. Takumi told him that Italians make their opponents feel their humiliation that they suffered in the face of disrespect and declared that Subaru would have to prostrate himself in front of the entire audience for insulting his Mezzaluna and more importantly, Isami. With the conditions of their Shokugeki set, Subaru and Takumi headed to their stations as their match's theme, desserts, was announced. Many assumed that Takumi would make gelatto but to the surprise of the audience, as Takumi took out his ingredients, Subaru took out the exact same ingredients in his station. Takumi was a bit disturbed by Subaru, but simply began to cook. However, as Takumi cooked, Subaru mirrored his every action and asked Takumi if he was making a semifreddo like he was, which Takumi confirmed as his choice. Though the two for most of the beginning had cooked the exact same way, Subaru finally changed up how he planned on preparing his dish by whisking his eggs biscuit style while Takumi whisked genoise style. Subaru decided to do it that way to improve the taste rather than texture. Subaru laid out his "improvements" of his dish, telling Takumi how he planned on using numerous techniques he uses including using Takumi's idea for his Naporitan Curry Fettucine by adding mascarpone cheese to give his fresh cream a deeper body. Subaru taunted Takumi, telling him that he was an extremely easy person to emulate. Despite the hopeless situation, his opponent was not ready to give up without a fight. As Subaru continued to cook his version of Takumi's Semifreddo he continued to taunt Takumi, cooking one step ahead of Takumi but with his own improvements, causing the audience to note that his semifreddo began to look much better than Takumi's. Finally Subaru completed his semifreddo and presented it to the judges. The beautiful presentation immediately touched the judge's "maiden heart." Though Ōizumi tried to remain adamant about Subaru's lack of soul in his dish as a Shokugeki was a clash between two souls, Subaru brushed him off saying that his efforts were a product of beating his opponent by analyzing his opponent's strength then improving it to win. Despite his dislike for Subaru's Shokugeki etiquette, he could not deny that his semifreddo was divine in taste. As his judging wrapped up, Subaru saw Takumi, confident and ready to present his dish. Subaru noticed that Takumi had changed up his original three-layer semifreddo by adding a fourth layer to it. After Takumi's dish was presented to the judges, the judges responded warmly, complimenting Takumi's brilliant improvisation of adding lemon curd to enhance the lemon flavor. Though it had seemed that Takumi's dish had a fighting chance of winning, the judges suddenly stopped their enthusiastic reception and realized that Subaru's was still superior. Subaru laughed maniacally as he revealed that he predicted that Takumi would improvise his dish by enhancing the lemon flavor. He decided beforehand to use preserved lemons to give his dish a faint bitterness, emphasizing his semifreddo's sweetness. Subaru finally taunted Takumi, saying that not only would he get away with insulting Isami, but also that he would be taking away his fated rematch against Sōma. Much to Takumi's horror, Subaru was declared the winner of the match. Road to the Semifinals Main Article: Yukihira Vs. Mimasaka Semifinal Shokugeki Though Subaru's victory was not well received by the crowd, nothing could persuade the judge's final verdict, much to Takumi's club's displeasure. Subaru silenced his fans by saying that if he had more time, he could have easily scouted all 87 members as well. Etsuya silenced the crowd to announce that the semifinals would take place in a week. When the Polar Star residents returned to Polar Star Dormitory, Subaru already had infiltrated the dormitory using a duplicate key for Sōma's room. Sōma was not disturbed in the slightest and even offered to make him some food. During their meal, Subaru revealed that the match ups for the Semifinals would be Akira Hayama against Ryō Kurokiba and Sōma against himself with the theme of Western-style dishes for both matches. Subaru told Sōma, who knew why he had come, that their Semifinal match will be a shokugeki. For his compensation, Sōma would have to give up his prized knife, but if he won, Subaru would give back Takumi's Mezzaluna. Like his previous 100 challengers, he tried to make Sōma angry by insulting Takumi since he always stood up for his friends. However, Sōma remained cool and even called Subaru the pathetic one. Much to his surprise, Sōma changed his conditions into the return of the 100 knives Subaru had taken from all of his Shokugekis. Though Subaru felt that the weight of the conditions did not equate, Sōma finished by saying that he would quit being a chef entirely in exchange, despite knowing that the results of a Shokugeki are absolute. To finish, Sōma told him that he'd make his work easier by using the Beef Stew they had been eating for their match. Subaru initially thought Sōma was joking just to demoralize him, but he learned that Sōma was serious. Sōma felt that Subaru had no sense of passion or pride in his cooking. Refusing to lose to a chef who had no regards to the joys of cooking, Sōma affirmed his decision on his compensation and Subaru agreed to the terms. Subaru warned him that he will be stalking him anyways and Sōma gladly welcomed it. Right after he left the Polar Star Dormitory, Subaru grew more interested in Sōma and looked forward to defeating his 101st Shokugeki rival, as mumbled the data he had about Sōma already. The next day, Subaru was interviewed by the Newspaper Club members about the Shokugeki, which he confidently told them that he would win. During the preparation week, Subaru spent much of it emulating Sōma as he would cook back at Restaurant Yukihira. Confident that his information about Sōma was accurate, Subaru was certain that he would win and even most of the school believed that he would win the Shokugeki. Semifinals One week later, Subaru made his entrance and confronted Sōma in the Semifinals. During cooking period, Subaru laughed sadistically at Sōma who had tried his best to hide his intended dish's secret weapon. To everyone surprise, Subaru also prepared the beef tail. He also prepared to cook his vegetables Matignon style. However, Subaru began to deviate from Sōma's cooking as he brought his secret weapon, a slab of smoked pork that he had smoked with mesquite wood to create a savory bacon to garnish his stew. Shortly after, Subaru spotted Mitsuru Sōtsuda in the crowd and thanked him for choosing his birthday as his PC password as his article about Sōma during the week had been a great source of info. With his spectacular dish nearly finished, it seemed like Subaru had the match in his hands. Much to everyone's surprise, including Subaru himself, Sōma unexpectedly brought out a cooler of meat and had seemed to have given himself a new route to take. However, once again, Subaru revealed that he knew that Sōma had bought that meat earlier that morning and everything was still going according to plan. Afterwards, Subaru presented his Beef Stew with Bacon Garnish to the judges first. As expected, Subaru's stew was delicious as the bacon he added had a powerful flavor of its own, but it complimented the stew rather than overpower it. Subaru then took time viciously mock Sōma, saying that even with his ad-libbed performance, Subaru knew everything about him. The judges were impressed by the extensive amount of work he put into his dish and it had seemed that victory was in the bag. Subaru taunted Sōma further by telling him to enjoy his final moments as a chef forever. Much to Subaru's surprise however, Sōma calmly informed him that he also had done some scouting of his own on Subaru's dish. As he cracked open his Shichirin, a thick smoke spread throughout the arena. As the smoke enveloped him, Subaru broke out into cold sweat. Even though he had anticipated Sōma's every move during the entire preparation process, he could not comprehended what he was so afraid of as Sōma presented his stew to the judges. Sōma's special beef stew held more secrets to it than Subaru had anticipated. The dish sent the judges on a roller coaster of flavors with his various forms of beef parts. Subaru asked Sōma how could he managed to make such a cohesive dish despite him just "ad-libbing". Sōma explained that he was not ad-libbing and Subaru had assumed that he had stopped thinking during the week in order to throw him off. In reality, Sōma never stopped thinking and was constantly improving his dish up until the moment he presented his dish. No matter how much Subaru had prepared for Sōma's actions, believing that he would stick to his dish design when Mitsuru had written that article, Sōma continued to evolve his dish. With his opponent completely free from his control, Subaru suffered his first Shokugeki defeat. Despite the outcome, Subaru still claimed that his Prefect Trace superior until Sōma gave his beef stew to taste. He tasted the dish and found it heart warming as he was reminded about his childhood. As all the 99 kitchen knifes were returned to their owners, Subaru admitted his defeat and decided to leave Tōtsuki and quit cooking. However, Sōma surprised everyone by chopping Subaru's head as he claimed that Shokugeki would be pointless if Subaru did quit. Subaru then witnessed Takumi not only did not retrieve his Mezzaluna from Sōma, until he beaten him by his own hands, but also declared that he would never lose to him again and vowed to repay his previous humiliation. Sōma further told Subaru not to rip his opponent pride for a match and while encouraged him cook further, which he believed that even when their confidence shattered, a chef always readily open their restaurant someday. Sōma's golden encouragement made Subaru smiled and realized that he don't have to quit his career because of his lost. Cooking Style *'Perfect Trace' - According to Etsuya, Subaru has no specialty whatsoever and lacks the cooking spirit that many of his fellow classmates have. What makes Subaru formidable is his mimicry, which is the foundation for his cooking. Following his mantra, Subaru investigates his opponents habits and cooking styles to predict their intended dish or unearth it himself. After a thorough investigation, Subaru is able to fully emulate them and cook almost exactly the same as them. However, Subaru then takes their recipes and then improves their taste in order to ensure victory. While it is not perfect, using this style gave Subaru an impeccable 99 Shokugeki win streak prior to his introduction. Other Skills *'Reconnaissance/Stalking' - Subaru is a highly skilled stalker. Despite his large size, he has shown that he can track and collect data from anyone from any place necessary to achieve this, even going as far as to hack a computer. Very few are aware of this and even those who know he had been stalking them are unaware how long he had truly been stalking them or how much info he acquired during that time. Because of Subaru's long record of cooking duels, he is able to observe anyone and gather enough data to fully emulate them in a matter of a few days. He can even predict future ideas and cooking improvisational behavioral patterns before they even happen once he has researched an opponent enough. *'Extensive Stat Knowledge' - Building off of his skill above, Subaru has great knowledge of almost every single student in the academy. While most range from simple physical statistics such as height and weight, his level of knowledge goes into the personal information level that would not be known even to the person itself. Things like average hours sleeping or tooth brushing habits are within his knowledge. *'Embroidery' - Subaru has been implied to have some skill in embroidery as his name stitched in his jacked has been implied to be his own work. Dish ''Shokugeki'' Dishes The following 5 dishes were among the dishes that Subaru cooked in his previous Shokugekis. None have been shown physically and have only been shown on an official record from the Shokugeki Administration Bureau. *'Mapo Doufu' - This dish was made to beat Sekiguchi Yūya. *'Duck Steak' - This dish was made to beat Saizu Kensuke. *'Nigirizushi with Plenty of Tuna' - This dish was made to beat Ematsu Hinuma. *'Celery Root Fricassee' - This dish was made to beat Shunta Mikami. *'Conger Eel without seasoning' - This dish was made to beat Yū Kamoshita. *'Improved Three-Layer Semifreddo' - Subaru took Takumi's original dish choice for their Quarterfinal Shokugeki and improved it. Despite the fact that Subaru's dish lacked soul, they could not deny that the beautiful appearance of the dish alongside of the rich taste caused even the elderly judges to feel like maidens in love. It went toe-to-toe with Takumi's Lemon Curd Italiano Semifreddo, however the secret weapon of added preserved lemons proved superior over Takumi's lemon curd improvisation. *'Beef Stew with Bacon Garnish' - Subaru's Beef Stew for his Semifinal Shokugeki against Sōma. Cooking Duel Records Official Shokugeki Autumn Election Record Trivia *Subaru is the constellation for Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. Subaru also means "come together." Mimasaka means "beautiful production." Navigation Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Students Category:Tōtsuki Culinary Academy Students Category:92nd Generation Students Category:Tōtsuki Autumn Election Participant